WARM FUZZY LAND- After the video of a homeless man winning an imaginary lottery went viral, people on the Internet rallied together to give him a new home.
Eric was first introduced to the Internet community in the video "Homeless Lottery Winner", when prankster Rahat tricked him into thinking he had a winning lottery ticket. Rahat said he had often seen Eric at a shopping center he frequented and heard he was a nice and respectable man, so he wanted to help him out.
He opted to give Eric some money in a less than traditional way - he gave Eric a lottery ticket and then took him to a nearby store to collect a $1,000 reward. When Eric was given the money, he surprised the filmmakers by trying to give some of it back.
Rahat said people were so touched by Eric's desire to share the money that they sent him requests asking how they could help. As a result, Rahat set up a fundraiser online for people to make donations to help improve Eric's standard of living.
"Eric is an extremely genuine person, and he deserves a lot more in life for his heart-warming personality," the fundraiser description reads.
The fundraiser brought in more than $44,000, which Rahat used to surprise Eric with a furnished rental home and fund to pay for food, utilities and other costs. He tricked Eric into coming to the house by saying he needed to pick something up there - once they were inside, Rahat revealed that the home belonged to Eric for a year.
Eric was visibly touched and thanked all of the people who helped make it possible.%3Cimg%20src%3D%22http%3A//beacon.deseretconnect.com/beacon.gif%3Fcid%3D169188%26pid%3D46%22%20/%3E